Durkheims Study Of Suicide

Durkheims Study Of Suicide Durkheim was a sociologist of French origin born in year 1958 and died on the November of 1917. He instituted various academic disciplines and is considered as the current social science principal architect. He actually maintained dominancy in the field of social sciences until the time of his death. Durkheim also presented several sociological knowledge papers alongside religion. His studies such as the suicide study have actually picked a popular discourse. Most of Durkheims work involved social facts study, term which he developed so as to depict phenomena that is self-existent and which cannot be affected by individuals actions (Lukes, 1985). Durkheim considered social facts to possess sui generis, which is a self-sufficient existence which is greater as well as more objective when compared to the individuals actions which make up the society (Martin Lee, 1994). Contrary to the facts covered under natural sciences, social facts thereby refer to particular phenomena category and they as well exist independently, free from individual manifestations (Durkheim, 1951). Social facts of this kind are actually endowed with coercion power due to their capability to take control of personal behaviors (Martin Lee, 1994). In accordance to Durkheim, these types of phenomena should neither be condensed to psychological nor biological grounds (Martin Lee, 1994). Therefore, the phenomena which is considered as most individualistic, for instance suicide, would end up been classified as a fact which is socially objective. Durkheim further argued that the persons who compose the society do not cause suicide directly (Ritzer, 1992). He ba sed his argument on the fact that suicide being a social fact, its presence in the society is independent in spite of the prevailing desires of the individuals forming the society (Ritzer, 1992). Consequently, the departure of any individual from the society will have no effect on the suicide fact as the society which the individual leaves behind still contains suicide. Sociological tasks entail the discovery of various social facts characteristics which can only be revealed by the means of either experimental or quantitative approach (Hassard, 1995). For the case of the suicide study conducted by Durkheim, he particularly depended on statistics (Bellah, 1973). Durkheim is considered to be amongst the initial structural functionalism founders. In general, Durkheim discarded reductionist arguments (Durkheim, 1951). Instead, he focused on the cultural values and norms, social structures alongside social facts; which he considered as being external to every human being. Durkheims study classified suicide into four categories and provided evidence to one of his theories which states that suicide rate differences are as a resultant of changes in the immaterial social facts (Thompson, 2002). Durkheim is famous due to his social reality macro-level views and its relationship at individual level. Actually, Durkheim managed to make major contribution on the structural functionalism development alongside sociology in general (Durkheim, 1951). Basically, Durkheim explored the various suicide rates amongst different religious groups and specifically between the Catholics alongside the Protestants. He discovered that the suicide rates were lower amongst the Catholics when compared to the Protestants (Stark William, 1996). Durkheim believed that the low rates of suicide among the Catholic were a result of the religions vibrant social control mechanisms (Stark William, 1996). Consequently, he attributed the escalated suicide frequencies among the Protestants to the regions big freedom space. In Durkheims perspective, the catholic society integration level was normal but the Protestants integration levels were low (Stark William, 1996). However, this interpretation was faced by two major problems. First, Durkheim had relied on earlier researchers data, specifically Wagner, A. and Morselli, H (Stark William, 1996) who had basically generalized their individual data. Secondly, succeeding researchers discovered that the suicide r ates differences amongst the Protestants and Catholics tended to be prominent in the German-Speaking European part and thereby may only have been other factors spurious reflection (Pope Danigelis, 1981). In spite of its limitations, Durkheims suicide study has really influenced the control theory proponents (Pope Danigelis, 1981). Durkheim came up with four categories of suicide which included Egoist suicide, Fatalistic suicides, Altruist suicide alongside Anomic suicide (Thompson, 2002). Durkheim considered Egoistic suicides as those that result from the weakening of individual bonds that naturally integrate collectivity (Thompson, 2002). In different words, Egoistic suicides are caused by the social integration breakdown or even decrease. Durkheim associated this suicide type to excessive individuation implying that most victims initially become more detached from the other community members (Thompson, 2002). Generally, the individuals who are insufficiently committed to specific social groups: end up with minimal social support and hence the likelihood of them committing suicide is high (Thompson, 2002). For instance, Durkheim revealed that the unmarried people, specifically males, committed suicide more often than their married counterparts due to their less bondage with the established social norms goals . Apparently, similar problems affected the widows. Among 1Million widows aged 65 years, 628 of them committed suicide while amongst I million men aged 65 years, only 461 did commit suicide (Lukes, 1985). The sample composition was appropriate as the age bracket comprised of married men to the large extend (Almost 90%) (Lukes, 1985). Durkheims analysis however indicated that despite the fact that the widows had a higher likelihood of committing suicide than married persons, their suicide rate was lower when compared to that of single individuals (Ritzer, 1992). Durkheim linked the figures to the family factor as he was of the view that a simpler conclusion would turn out as problematic (Ritzer, 1992). It would be problematic due to the changes in the marriages numbers that occurred during this period as the suicide rates tripled. Significantly, Durkheim was quick to note that the factor was not simply marriage but a marriage that had children (Ritzer, 1992). This is because marriage s with children had lower suicide rates when compared to infertile families (Thompson, 2002). Thus, the main factor was considering family like a basic social unit but not marriage. Additionally, Durkheim further studied the wars and crises roles on suicide rates. He discovered during the course of social crises (for instance, revolutions) alongside wars; the suicide rates dropped remarkably (Bellah, 1973). In overall, he found out a more religious society had lower suicide rates and also the strength of family relationships determined the magnitude of suicide rate (Thompson, 2002). Moreover, the society integration greatly affected the suicide rate. On the other hand, Durkheim classified Altruistic suicides as those which occur in highly integrated societies in which the whole societys needs are more prioritized than individual needs (Thompson, 2002). Altruistic suicides therefore come about on a integration scale which is contrary to that of egoistic suicide (Thompson, 2002). Durkheim stated that the suicide rate in altruistic societies was generally low as personal interests were not viewed as important (Thompson, 2002). Durkheim viewed the armed forces with this perspective and was really surprising to find out that suicide rates occurred at a high rate within the military service (Thompson, 2002). It was startling due to the fact that the military, just like religions as well as cohesive societies should exhibit strong solidarity and moreover the people in the military are usually the most physically fit in the society (Durkheim, 1951).Besides, it was not right to attribute the suicide causes to either the military service h atred or even the failure to get used to military service routines (Durkheim, 1951).This was because it was evident that suicide rates were directly proportional to the military service length (Durkheim, 1951). Additionally, senior officers committed suicide at a higher rate than their juniors (Bellah, 1973). Moreover, the elite units were affected by higher suicide rates than the normal units (Bellah, 1973). Finally, the suicide rate was low in the units which demonstrated weaker military spirit (Bellah, 1973). Therefore, Durkheim stated that the senior military officers had to abandon the personal individuality to cope with the service requirements as it increased their risk of committing suicide (Lukes, 1985). Durkheim classified Anomic suicides as those which arise due to moral deregulation alongside the absence of legitimate aspirations definition through restrictive social ethic, which has the potential of imposing a different individual conscience meaning as well as order (Ritzer, 1992). This is indicative of economic development failure as well as the labor division to result to the organic solidarity of Durkheim (Ritzer, 1992). In this situation, people fail to recognize their appropriate positions in the society. Durkheim explained this moral disorder state as that which the desires of the individuals are limitless, thereby resulting to personal infinite disappointments (Ritzer, 1992). Lastly, Durkheim suggested that Fatalistic suicides mainly occur in the exceedingly oppressive societies which make people to opt for death other than continue living in such societies (Durkheim, 1951). Generally, this is one of the rarest reasons which can push an individual to committing suicide (Durkheim, 1951). However, fatalistic suicides are common features in prisons as individuals choose to die other than going on with the abusive, excessively regulated prison life which denies them the opportunity to fulfill their desires (Durkheim, 1951). The Durkheims suicide types had their basis on the twin social forces imbalance degrees which are the moral regulation alongside the social integration. Durkheim revealed how impacts on the social aggregate aspects such as; war can lead to increased altruism, booms in economy or catastrophe contribute to anomie. Durkheims suicide analysis indicates the way in which social facts on the contrary to biological as well as psychological facts can be stressed upon, and bring about constructive methods of examining individuals actions. Besides, suicide rates are considered as social facts as they express social currents that affect people and the society as whole. Despite the fact that psychology study is also essential in resolving individual motives and the process through which certain circumstances push people to committing suicide; it is equally important to undertake circumstances analysis within the prevailing individuals social currents (Durkheim, 1951). Durkheim as a matter of fact established that the suicide rates in males were higher than in females; the singles had a higher rate of committing suicide than the married; suicide rates were also higher in the infertile couples than the fertile ones; protestants committed more suicide incidences as compared to the Catholics alongside Jews; Soldiers were more vulnerable to suicide than Civilians; there were more suicide incidences in the peaceful times than in war periods; Scandinavian countries exhibited higher suicide rates and lastly the people who had accomplished higher education level were at a higher risk of committing suicide. However, the Durkheim suicide study has received a wide range of criticism from various sources. It has actually been criticized as the perfect example of logical error which is commonly termed as ecological fallacy (Freedman, 2002). Durkheims conclusions on personal behavior on the basis of aggregate statistics have been termed as misleading (Freedman, 2002). This is because the Simpsons (1987) paradox has revealed how erroneous it is to analyze micro events in macro properties terms. Nevertheless, diverging views have arisen on whether Durkheims work should actually be classified as ecological fallacy. Researchers such as Van Poppel (1996) alongside Day (1996) have proposed that suicide rates differences between different religious groups (such as the Catholics alongside the Protestants) could be entirely explained in terms of how the social groups categorized deaths. For example, while the protestants recorded sudden deaths alongside deaths resulting from unspecified causes as sui cides, this was not the case on the Catholics side (Thompson, 2002). Thereby, Durkheim error would be considered as empirical other than logical. Other researchers such as Gibbs, Inkeles, alongside Johnson have alleged that the main intention of Durkheim was to socially analyze suicide on the holistic perspective with the intention of expounding social environments variation within suicide incidences but not specific individuals suicides. In addition, researchers of the recent times like Berk (2006) have also queried the Durkheims work micro-macro linkages. Berk (2006) particularly noted that Durkheim spoke of collective current reflecting the joint inclination going down the social organization channels (Freedman, 2002). However, the current intensity is the determinant factor of the suicides volume thereby bringing about psychological variables like depression which could be viewed as independent or non-social suicide cause (Freedman, 2002). This thereby, ignores Durkheims concept ion of considering these variables as the mostly influenced by the wider social forces and the notion that suicide can not affect such individuals in the absence of these forces (Martin Lee, 1994). Apparently, Durkheim brings out issues that affect people directly. In addition, he tends to possess vibrant structural society view, as well as the mode in which everyone within the society is affected by various social facts and how it is a must for each to comply with them. Durkheim indeed tried to have the situation where the social roles are distinguished from psychological, economical alongside biological roles. This is actually be observed within his social influences view on the rate of suicides, in which he studies several factors and determines their effect on the propensity to commit suicide (Ritzer, 1992).

Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People Essay -- Stephen Covey, 7 Habit

THE 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People was written by Stephen R. Covey in 1989. This book has been on the National Best Seller list for over 200 weeks. Many people have attended Covey’s seminars on the subject. Many companies have required top executives to read this book including AT & T, Dow Chemical, Ford, Deloitte and Touche, Marriott, Xerox and Ritz Carlton Hotels. This book proposes that there are seven habits that can be learned to improve one’s personal and interpersonal effectiveness. Covey describes a habit as â€Å"the intersection of knowledge, skill and desire.† Knowledge would represent the â€Å"what to do†, skill the â€Å"how to do†, and desire the â€Å"want to do†. In order to create a habit in our lives, we must have all three. Habits 1, 2, and 3 relate to Private Victory with habit 4, 5, and 6 relating to Public Victories and Habit 7 being involved with Renewal. Habit one is to be proactive. This habit says that as human beings we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We create our own destiny. The proactive person acts rather than waiting to be acted upon. According to Covey, part of increasing our self-awareness is understanding our Circle of Concern, that is, our range of concern with which we have mental or emotional involvement. A Circle of Influence resides inside the Circle of Concern reflecting those things over which we have control. Habit two is to begin with the end in mind. If we paint a visual image of what we want our life to be then we actually provide a frame of reference within which all our behaviors can be examined. We must understand where we are going. We should develop a personal mission statement. It will provide the basic direction of our lives. This statement will force us to give thought to our values and what we want to accomplish in life. In the third habit, Covey tells us to put first things first. Independence is crucial in this habit. Our personal integrity helps us to â€Å"walk our talk†. The strength of purpose enables us to do even those things we’d rather not, placing our value's first. This habit requires good time management. If the issue is not high priority, we must say â€Å"no† to reserve time for those items that are high priority. Through this habit effective management leads to effec... ... possible. This habit is making an investment in ourselves. This refers to taking care of our bodies. This includes eating right, getting enough sleep and engaging in regular exercise. Our physical well being will help us to be more proactive. The spiritual dimension of our lives must also be renewed. This is achieved through prayer, music, reading, meditation or nature. This touches the center of our beings. Sharpening the saw of the mental dimension comes through continuing education. Proactive people can figure out many ways to educate themselves. The best way to inform and expand your mind is through reading. Another tool used to sharpen the saw is through writing. Writing affects our ability to think, reason and to be understood effectively. One should spend one hour a day for the rest of your life sharpening the saw. This book is truly a work of art. The information is easily understood and is well communicated. Covey gives so many down to earth examples that it is easy to gain knowledge personally and professionally. I highly recommend this book and will definitely take the study course the next time it is offered at Columbia State. Pam Thomason

Osteoporosis and Radio Ad Essay

Radio Ad We know many people worry about the risks of getting arthritis and osteoporosis, as well as injuries from falls as you start climb the latter called age. We are doing this radio ad in promoting a healthier Muscular system well in to your retirement age. Although some chronic disease risk factors such as (family history, age or sex) are not able to be modified and so cannot be incorporated into prevention strategies, these factors can help to identify people or groups at high risk of developing a disease, enabling a targeted approach. The modifiable risks factors are common to all chronic disease which includes diet, weight, exercise, alcohol intake and smoking. It is important to understand that adopting healthy lifestyle behaviors will reduce the risk of all chronic diseases, including arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions. A balanced diet will help to achieve a healthy weight and body. When increasing the intake of calcium also absorption of vitamin D will assist in reducing risks of developing arthritis and osteoporosis. Regular exercise aids in the prevention of musculoskeletal conditions, and it helps to alleviate and reduce joint pain and stiffness and build strong muscle around the joints. People who are obese are at higher risk of arthritis or osteoporosis due to the increased load across the weight bearing joints, and increasing the stress on cartilage and ligaments. People who reduce their smoking and drinking will reduce the risks for low bone mass, low bone strength, and low body weight. Having a healthier life style gives you a fun filled days right into your retirement years.

KENNYATTA UNIVERSITY Essays (1828 words) - Biology, Biodiversity

KENNYATTA UNIVERSITY Essays (1828 words) - Biology, Biodiversity KENNYATTA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF EDUCATION UNIT: UNIT NAME: Question 1 Discuss the Causes and Effects of Biodiversity Loss in Kenya Biodiversity is the changeability among living life forms from all sources, including earthbound, marine, and other oceanic biological communities and the environmental buildings of which they are part; this incorporates decent variety inside species, amongst species, and of biological systems (Myers, Mittermeier, Mittermeier, Da Fonseca, Kent, 2000) . Biodiversity incorporates all biological systems oversaw or unmanaged. Now and again biodiversity is attempted to be a significant component of just unmanaged biological communities, for example, wildlands, nature jelly, or national parks. This is wrong. Overseen frameworks are they plantations, ranches, croplands, aquaculture locales, rangelands, or even urban parks and urban environments have their own particular biodiversity. Given that developed frameworks alone now represent over 24% of Earth's earthbound surface, it is important that any choice concerning biodiversity or biological community administrations address the support of biodiversity in these to a great extent anthropogenic frameworks. Biodiversity is neither uniform nor similarly conveyed on Earth. Be that as it may, it is frequently utilized as a measure of the strength of biological communities. It is wealthier in the tropical nations for example, Kenya, as conditions are helpful for additional species to prosper and to shape important biological connections (Isbell et al. 2009) . It is bring down in polar, to a great degree frosty, dry furthermore, hot locales where conditions bolster less biomass furthermore, less living things. Since the rise of people furthermore, human developments, biodiversity has been declining around the globe. This decrease is caused basically by human effects, especially the decimation of plant what's more, creature natural surroundings. What's more, human practices are in charge of the loss of hereditary decent variety inside and among these species. Biodiversity resources and the associated processes support sectors such as energy, food, fibers , drinks, Medicines , industry, fishery and agriculture on which human lives depend are from biodiversity . Biodiversity also ensures air and water purification, pollination, seed dispersal, climate modification, soil stabilization, drought and flood control, recycling of nutrients and habitats. Biodiversity also forms the basis for national and regional tourism. A source of genetic resources, it supports the biotechnology sector. Scientists and environmentalists agree that biodiversity conservation particularly in primary forests is ne cessary to stem further loss of species and to avert econo mic downturns in tropical countries. The cons ervation and sustainable use of biodiversity is important to the survival of both humans and the environment. The green revoluti on, that continues to happen in agriculture thr ough biotechnology, is directly supp orted by biodiversity. Imp rovements in crop cultivars and varieties are made possibl e by harnessing genes from wild species and known varie ties. By re-combining genes for different traits, plant and animal breeders develop new varieties for specific condit ions. Indeed, interbreeding crops strains with different beneficial traits has resulted in more than doub ling crop production around the world in the last 50 y ears (Cardinale et al. 2002) . Maintaining some level of crop diversity is i mportant in wading off emerging diseases and crop pests and is instrumental in adapting to climate change. There fore, biodiversity, the natural reservoir of genetic trai ts in cultivars and traditional landraces is important in improving agricultural crops and animal breeds. Kenya mainly exploits h er biodiversity thro ugh primary industry includ ing food, tourism and ecosystem services. It supports many l ivelihoods and lifestyles as it provides genetic reserv es and sustains ecosystems upon which the said livelihoods and lifestyl es depend. There is still great potential f or further application of local biodiversity through indu strial processes led by further research in bio prospecting. Therefore, in addition to current applications for the use of biodiversity, Kenya has wide latitude to exploit it profitably in future. There is impressive confirmation that contemporary biodiversity decays will prompt consequent decreases in biological system working and environment solidness (Naeem et al. 2009). Biodiversity tests have tried whether biodiversity decays will impact biological community working or strength by controlling some segment of biodiversity, for example, the quantity of species, and measuring different sorts of environment working or security. These examinations have

Foreign Language Classes Should Not Be Mandatory in Colleges Essay Example

Foreign Language Classes Should Not Be Mandatory in Colleges Essay Example Foreign Language Classes Should Not Be Mandatory in Colleges Essay Foreign Language Classes Should Not Be Mandatory in Colleges Essay Essay Topic: College How to Learn Foreign Language Effectively? Researchers posit that teaching foreign languages should not be mandatory and scrapping off of the same would help in reducing unnecessary burden of education on student and help college students to focus on the more important aspects of education (Lariscy, Hummer Hayward, 2015). One of the negative effects of learning foreign languages in college is that it causes students to undergo unnecessary suffering as almost negligible numbers of student achieve the required degree of fluency in the second languages. It means that despite the various strategies that colleges put to encourage students to learn second languages, the goals are never reached thereby making such aims futile (Jespersen, 2013). The effect of foreign languages in colleges is almost negligible making it unnecessary to learn such Statistics conducted on 4000, a total of 25.7 percent admitted to have knowledge of foreign language apart from English, 41.5 percent of those admitted to have the ability to speak the langua ge very well, and 7 percent of the sub-sub-sample claim to have learned the knowledge in school (Kulkarni Hu, 2014). In this manner, the results show that show has the least impact in encouraging students to learn foreign languages, and it is therefore a waste of time and effort of students to learn new languages. Such is because of the total number of students taught foreign languages in school, only 0.7 percent achieve the self-assessed fluency meaning that in 100 students taught foreign languages, only one becomes fluent proving it a waste of time and effort. (Ghanem, 2015). One of the negative effects of learning foreign languages in colleges is that it leads to the increase in costs of education but it is not beneficial to the education. Although learning of foreign languages sounds as a noble course, it is not worth the cost as evident in the higher cost of the plan such as the introduction of new curriculums, hiring of new teachers, building of new classrooms (Lariscy, Hummer Hayward, 2015). Such expenses lead to increase in the cost of education which proves to be a burden to parents and guardian without adding much to the children. In this manner, the cost of learning foreign languages dwarfs the benefits proving need to disown such initiatives and focus more on the learning activities that are most beneficial to the students (Jespersen, 2013). The return of learning foreign languages in colleges also proves to be having low return from the same in terms of improvement of knowledge the quality standards of education. : Finally, learning of foreign languages apart from English does not add value to the students. It is apparent that English fluency enables college students to land good jobs, enjoy culture, and meet interesting people but learning other languages does not add value to college students once they get out of the college. Learning foreign languages rarely helps students to get good jobs, meet interesting people or enjoy culture thereby proving it worthless to learn other languages (Kulkarni Hu, 2014). Moreover, the abundance and diversity that Americans enjoy in terms of social, economic and culture manifestations, Americans can easily travel other parts of the globe without having to learn foreign languages. Conclusion Statistics and the studies conducted by researchers prove that it is needless for American citizens to learn foreign languages because the aims of such initiatives are never reached, it leads to increase in the cost of education, wastes learning time of students, and does not add value to students once they get out of college. Such proves the need for the society to disown plans of introducing learning of foreign languages in colleges in America. References Ghanem, C. (2015). Teaching in the foreign language classroom: How being a native or non-native speaker of German influences culture teaching. Language Teaching Research, 19(2), 169-186. Jespersen, O. (2013). How to teach a foreign language (Vol. 2). Routledge. Kulkarni, V. S., Hu, X. (2014). English language proficiency among the foreign born in the United States, 19802007: Duration, age, cohort effects. International Migration Review, 48(3), 762-800. Lariscy, J. T., Hummer, R. A., Hayward, M. D. (2015). Hispanic older adult mortality in the United States: New estimates and an assessment of factors shaping the Hispanic paradox. Demography, 52(1), 1-14.

Punishment and Welfare in the Youth Justice System Essay

Punishment and Welfare in the Youth Justice System - Essay Example Historically, the debate over whether good practice in youth justice should reflect the punishment or welfare model has exercised policy-makers for over a century. From the 1960’s to the 1980’s, policy trends evolved toward the welfare model of punishment in which punishments are excluded, or are to be carefully adapted to the special needs of young people. In the 1980’s added attention was focused on juvenile offenders with policy makers instituting a stricter punishment-orientated juvenile justice system, for example, the Crime and Disorder Act of 1998, which established the Youth Justice Board and reduced the age of prosecution to 10 years.1 Youth justice procedures in the 21st century are mixed, not clearly reflecting either the punishment or welfare model of corrections. The use of the reprimands and warnings system attempts to travel both tracks, being tough on adolescent crime while believing that young offenders can, more than adults, be influenced positi vely with guidance during the warning phase of punishment. It also involves police and parents in the discipline of youths. Both public and governmental opinion suggests the debate of the effectiveness of punishment or welfare has not been resolved. While the retributive nature of the past has paled away and the adult-involved, rehabilitative approach has become predominant in juvenile justice, many call for increased punishment methods intertwined with the system of reprimands and warnings. A majority of parents want corporal punishment to be reintroduced in schools to tackle what they perceive is an increasing problem of classroom disorder.

Analysis of Market Failures Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis of Market Failures - Assignment Example Therefore, in order to counter this market failure, government intervenes, takes taxes from people and provides them the goods which are not provided by price mechanism, such as street lights, lighthouses, police etc These were some cases, where market forces of price mechanism fail to provide the people with the right quantity of goods and results in market failures. However, a new way adopted by most governments to counter market failures is by adopting a mixed economic system, where there is both price mechanism and government control. Whenever the price mechanism fails to provide a good or service, or over or under provides it, the government comes forward and takes care of the market. For example, to counter the overproduction of demerit goods, it increases the taxes on those goods. Similarly, in order to increase the production of merit goods, it usually provides subsidies on them, so that these goods are provided more in the market. Thus, we can conclude from this essay that even the most efficient system of allocation of resources can sometimes fail to allocate the resources in the most efficient way. This situation is known as a market failure, and if not dealt properly, it will lead the market towards inefficiency and hence there is a need for good government control to counter the problem. Â